January 2015 Nyambogo Implementation Trip

Hello everyone!

The University of Cincinnati Engineers Without Borders chapter recently returned from Tanzania in January, 2015 after completing the first phase of its water project in the village of Nyambogo.  While there, the travel team of four students and two mentors completed a variety of necessary tasks, such as configuring the storage tank arrangement, installing tapstands, and transitioning ownership of the solar-powered system to the local Water Committee.

While this blog has not been utilized in more than a year, the chapter would like to revitalize this medium as a channel for communicating with our members, partners, and donors.  Without the support of the University of Cincinnati, the Shirati Health Education & Development foundation, or our individual and corporate sponsors, the tremendous projects that our organization has developed and implemented would not be possible.  In this post, we will summarize the activities and accomplishments of our recent travels, and we would like to encourage our supports to continue visiting this blog for further updates.

January 2015 Implementation Travel Team

Our travel team, pictured above, spent seven days on the ground in Tanzania to complete the installation of our first-phase water project.  While there, the group labored diligently to cut and thread galvanized piping, measure bulkhead fittings, assemble the tapstands and manifold, and configure the entire 40,000 liter system.  On our last day in Nyambogo, Global Resource Alliance (GRA), our contracted partners, had installed the solar panels and was able to power the pump that resided more than 70 meters below the surface.  We watched as the tanks began to fill, and were able to flush water through our system and taps.

More than five years in the making, this project has been our most ambitious endeavor thus far.  With the opportunity to provide over 7,000 individuals with potable water, our chapter has allocated a tremendous amount of time and resources to transforming this vision into a reality.  More importantly, EWB-UC has been able to provide the village of Nyambogo the resources to operate and administer its new water source effectively, which has already generated income for the community.

Our intentions for this water project continue to unfurl with subsequent phases in development, concentrating on expansion and further distribution.  While our progress in the past year has been momentous, the project committee aspires to providing the most accessible resources for our partners in Nyambogo.  We have only breached the surface, and are eager for the opportunities ahead of us!

Remember to visit our website at ewb-uc.org, like us on Facebook at facebook.com/ewbuc, and follow us on Twitter at @ewb_uc to receive more information about our chapter progress.  For now, thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to providing you with more exciting news!

UC Sustainability Summit

What a great weekend.

This past weekend EWB was invited to attend the UC Sustainability Summit. Kelsey Reichenbach, Sam Zogheib, Evan Saunders, Blake Beard, and myself all represented EWB at the summit. The event occurred at General Butler State Resort Park in Kentucky. So many student groups were present at the Summit. Students for Ecological Design (SED), Mountaineering Club (UCMC), DAAP Cares, Real Food Challenge, Greek Life, Leaders for Environmental Awareness and Protection (LEAP), and of course, UC Sustainability, all had representatives at the summit. So, lets get down to what transpired over this great weekend.

The summit began on Friday evening with some icebreakers and group building activites, so that everyone could get to know each other. After the icebreakers, the group wrote down the ground rules for the summit. They were your basic rules you want for a summit of this nature: keep an open mind, respect others, hugs/respect personal space, you get the idea. After that, we went to dinner at Two Rivers Restaurant. The buffet was AMAZING! So many foods to choose from, each one better than the next.

The group building activity after dinner was for groups of eight to create a three minute commercial. So many funny commercials were created using random props given to each group. A hockey playing Barack Obama approving a miniature Old Spice deodorant spray can, using records to bring the dead back to life while Nicholas Cage stole the Declaration of Independence to try and help, and a few more funny commercials got the summit off to a great start.

The guest speakers for the night were Mary Beth McGrew from UC Planning, Design, and Construction and Joe Harrell from UC Utilities spoke to the group about sustainability efforts at UC. Mary Beth discussed LEED Certification of buildings at UC, and the efforts of UC to incorporate sustainable practices in new buildings being built around UC. Joe Harrell was there to talk about the efforts that Utilities has gone to to reduce UC's carbon footprint. The main issue discussed was the coal power plant that is currently being operated on medical campus. He talked about other options that UC is looking into to power the boilers. The main source that was discussed was the use of fuel pellets to operate the boilers. These fuel pellets would drastically reduce the carbon emissions of the plant. The only downside is that fact that the pellets have to be shipped all the way from Green Bay, Wisconsin. So, UC has been talking to local business to drum up support for a plant to create these pellets to be constructed near Cincinnati. Read more about the pellets and the power plant here.

The summit then went into brainstorming mode. Everyone divided into multiple groups and wrote down any ideas they had about sustainability at UC. The goal is to present the top five goals the sustainability summit wants to see implemented at UC by the Bicentennial in 2019. A lot of great ideas were thrown around, including solar panels, using gym equipment at CRC to generate electricity, water bottle refill stations being set up around campus, more green roofs/beautification and so many other great ideas were mentioned. The entire list was posted on the walls, and everyone got five votes to vote for there favorites (there were around 35 ideas listed).

To end the night the group went down to the camp grounds and had a bonfire. S'mores were made, and everybody was able to mingle and get to know one another. The bonfire was a great way to relax to get ready for an event filled Saturday.

Saturday started off with yoga in the morning at 7am (for those that actually woke up, aka not me). Breakfast was at 8, and then the summit got into productivity mode a little after 9. The morning session was identifying the problem. Everybody divided up into their respective student groups and sat down to discuss the problem their student group want to tackle. For EWB, that problem was fundraising/marketing for the Nyambogo Project. Fundraising and marketing have been the areas EWB-UC really needs to improve upon because, let's face it, we are engineers. We want to design things and build them. We aren't always the most social or verbal bunch you will ever meet (we are working on it, OK?!). But we can't just ignore fundraising and marketing hoping we get that one big donation that gives us what we need to finish the project. So, as a group we outlined what we need to do to market the fundraising campaign and make it successful. We divided it up into four categories: marketing, events, donors, and grants. We then discussed all the different aspects of each category, and Saturday was off to a fantastic start.

The summit then moved into student skill sessions. The topics in these sessions talked about grant writing, delegating tasks, transition of power from class to class, being an effective leader, and a large variety of other topics. Each person had chosen four different skill sessions to attend when they filled out the application to attend the summit (there were 12 to choose from). These lasted about 25 minutes per session, and offered great ideas to implement.

After lunch it was time to listen to the guest speakers. There were four speakers total, and each student could pick two speakers to listen to. The speakers that attended the summit were Mark Fisher from the Cincinnati Zoo, Jim Schenk  from Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage, Ramsey Ford from Design Impact, and Kathyrn Lee from Environment Ohio. I attended the Enright Ridge and Design Impact sessions, and each offered there own insights into sustainability and its role in this world. Enright Ridge is an ecovillage located in Price Hill here in Cincinnati. The purpose of the ecovillage is to provide the opportunity to live in a connected community that explores alternative energy while still being in the heart of the city. Design Impact is a local non-profit organization that works in developing nations to provide solutions to various social needs. They have designers partner with entrepreneurs and communities to find solutions to these issues. Both speakers where highly engaging, and each got me thinking of new ways to approach sustainability.

After the speakers, we moved onto laughing yoga. Alex lead the group in laughing yoga, which was a fantastic way to unwind and recharge for the next round of activities. Laughing yoga was not like regular yoga with the stretching and contortionists positions. It was about the unwinding aspect that yoga provides. The entire time Alex had the group laughing as hard as they can, throwing around "laughter balls", and trying to form a circle with everyone sitting on each others lap.

We next moved into session two: resources. Here we discussed all the resources that our group has at their disposal. We determined that EWB has the following resources: technical knowledge out the wazoo, partnerships (with EWB-USA, VLOP, and SHED), our alumni, our mentors, and a few other things (there was a lot of info being thrown around, I couldn't remember everything). We also had a contest to build a balloon tower (sound familiar?). We divided into four groups, and I am proud to say that my group won (kind of helps when you have an engineer who wants to design structures), but it was a very close race. After the second session we broke for dinner.

After dinner we started off with team rock-paper-scissors. The way it works is if you lose the match, you have cheer for the person who beat you for as long as they are winning. If they lose, you then start cheering for the person who beat them and so on. This was a surprisingly quick competition only lasting a minute or two.

The third session for the day was planning for execution. The purpose for this was to further expand on the ideas generated in the previous sessions. A large interconnected web chart was created to outline all the tasks that would go into a specific topic. We choose to focus on the restaurant fundraiser we want to put on over the course of the year. We outlined where they could take place, the different tasks that would be necessary to execute the plan, and they various jobs people would have to take on the get the job done. We came up with a lot of good ideas, and now know of a lot of things that new members can help with to feel more involved with EWB.

After the third session, everyone headed back down to the campground for another bonfire. At the bonfire everyone went around and acknowledge someone or something that they liked that occurred during the days activities. The bonfire was a great way to relax before heading off to bed.

The next day started off again with morning yoga, and then moved into breakfast and packing up the car. The final session for the summit was about reflection on the summit and preparation. Each group was then given the opportunity to present the different ideas they had for their organizations problems. We talked about how we want to approach the problem of fundraising for Nyambogo. We first want to make an emotional connection with potential donors, and then use this connection to pitch the water project without getting into the technical details of the project.

The summit ended with a picture and a group hug, and that concluded the events of a fantastic weekend.

The Sustainability Summit was a great event to attend. We had the chance to meet other leaders of student groups who are as passionate about sustainability as we are, as well as make a lot of new friends. I highly recommend that every member of EWB try and attend the summit at least once before they graduate.

A big shout out to Charles Marxen, Ryan Ponti-Zins, and the rest of UC Sustainability who put together such a wonderful summit. My only wish is that I could have experienced the summit before I entered my senior year.

(Sorry for not having any pictures. I was too involved to remember to take any with my camera)

One more thing, make sure you vote for EWB-UC in the Penetron Contest!
https://www.facebook.com/ThePenetronGroup?sk=app_278465152274055

Now Where Were We...

Hello again everyone!

It has been quite a while since we have sent out an update, and we have a lot of stuff to talk about.

The last time we talked was back in December, right after Richard and myself finished the third implementation trip to Burere. There has been a lot of activity in Burere in the last 9 months, so that is where we will begin our journey. Upon the restart of classes in January, we started to plan our next implementation trip in April/May to put the roof on the school (if you don't remember, the concrete ring beam was put into place in December). We once again turned to Richard Elliott to guide us through the process of how to build the trusses and put the roof on the building. Richard was traveling back to Tanzania in March with Dr. Michael Zaretsky of VLOP and some students from UC. The plan was for Richard to create a mock-up of one of the trusses, so that when the implementation crew arrived in April, a "cookie cutter" pattern of the truss would be ready to be used and streamline construction of the roof. Richard was successful in this regard, and sent us a picture of the completed truss.

Truss built in March

 Yeah, it's pretty big. And 13 of them will be placed on top of the ring beam.
   Next big event for Burere was the 4th implementation trip in April. Selected to go on this trip was Justin Thompson, Sean Buchanon, John Wynn, Matthew Menche, Devin Metzger, and Richard Elliot. Unfortunately since I was not on the trip, I can not give you day by day updates on construction. Matt was able to send me some photos of the trip, so those will have to do to describe events that occurred.

Construction Team and Kingigoro Students

Putting Trusses in place

Moving the truss into place

                                                                                                                                       

Drilling holes for the bolts

At the end of the trip, all 13 trusses were in place and 2/3 of the roof was complete. Our trusty contractor Julius completed the roof for us over the summer. Then in August we received some pictures of the completed roof. It looks absolutely amazing.

 A job well done by all those involved! Then a few weeks later, Rosie sent us a picture of the school, with classes in session! To say we were excited would be the understatement of the year. 

Julius (right) helping to officially open up the school.

We still have a few things left on the school to complete, but since the main structure is complete, EWB-UC will now begin to focus the majority of our attention on raising funds for the Nyambogo Water Project.

 A very big thank you to those who have supported us throughout this incredible journey. Jay, Julie, and Jason at THP Limited for there work on the design, Richard Elliott for traveling with every team to build the school and lending us his experience working in the area, Emily Roush Elliott for helping us begin implementation, being there to guide us through the building process, and for letting us steal Richard when we traveled, Dr. Lewis and VLOP for helping us through this long process, and to all the students and faculty at UC who played a part in the Burere Schoolhouse Project. Thank You!

Just to Bring You Up to Speed...

Sorry for the delay in posting an update, we lost power in Shirati for a while.

Let us start with what occurred on Friday. Friday was a much slower day than hoped, with most of the day spent finishing formwork, putting bolts into place, and beginning to straighten some of the corners. Since our rebar crew was out of work, they began moving the aggregate into position near the mixing pad. We worked hard until 430, then had a meeting to discuss options for pouring concrete on Saturday. Julius believed it would take 12 hours to pour. We toyed with the idea of working til nightfall to straighten and level the formwork, but then decided we would end up making more errors than progress with everyone being exhausted. On the ride back to the hostel, we toyed with ideas to see if we could pour zege on Saturday, since no one really wanted to pour on Sunday. I believed it would only take 5-6hrs to pour, so we decided that we would pour at night if necessary. Julius, Daniel and Sakai went to Shirati that night and rented a generator, lights and cables in preparation to pour at night. That concluded a long day five and we hit the hay soon after dinner.

This was it. Day six. Zege day. Whether we were there til 5pm or 11pm, zege was going to be put into place one way or another. We hit the ground running with another 630am start and immediately started working our butts off once our boots were on the ground in Burere. The day started with Richard and I running a water level, getting all the marks to which we would level the formwork. Once that was done, Richard went around one side leveling and straightening formwork, while Sakai and Daniel went the other direction. While they were doing this, I continued to place bolts in there proper locations. By 11, the formwork had been leveled, and 18 of the 26 bolts were in place. At this point we started to pour zege. Richard, Otoke and another worker started in one corner while Otienu, another worker, and myself started in another. The zege crew was well versed in the process, and everything ran smoothly. After a while, I had to take a break from zege and finish putting in the bolts into position, making sure the crew didn't put zege in that area without the bolts in place. Things ran smoothly, and the zege was completed by 330.

DONE. Mission accomplished. And it only took four and a half hours to pour the beam. It required six long days of work but the third phase of the project can be checked off the list.

Sunday was a day of relaxation with trip out to Roche in the morning. In Roche, Richard did a quick inspection of the building, then we set about the main task for the trip out to Roche. We were there to take photos of the rough location for the planned doctor housing to be built on site. After the trip to Roche, we went back to Shirati, and Sakai invited us to his house for lunch. To say it was a good meal and a large one at that would be the understatement of the year. Sakai had a whole feast for us. Ugali, chapati, beef, fish, rice, mangoes, cabbage, pineapple, bananas, you get the picture. Sakai had a wonderful spread, and we ate til we were almost in a food coma. The rest of the day was spent relaxing fishing and just being lazy.

And that brings us to today. We left Shirati this morning and we are now relaxing comfortable at the Mennoite Guest House. Tomorrow we head to the market to do some shopping, then from there we board our plane in the evening for the long flights home.

Good Night and Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

A Little Different Perspective on the Trip...

Two posts in one night? I must be spoiling you.

   This post is a little bit different than any previous posts we have done for the Burere Schoolhouse Project. Most of the time you hear about the updates on how construction has been going, and what the travel team has been up to while over here in Tanzania. Most of the people who follow what we do know that it has a positive impact on the region, but they have not been able to actually make the trip. They hear the stories we tell of funny events that occur during the rest breaks, and they get to hear a few names of the people we meet. In this post, we wanted to put a face to the name, and discuss the impact we are having on a more personally note with regards to the villagers.

Deo with his daughters, Anna (left) and Sofia

   Tonight I introduce to you Deo (pronounced Day-o). Deo has been one of our hardest workers, helping me cut and bend rebar, as well as helping to put it into place. We have been able to get to know him better than some of the other crew members, since he can speak some English. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with him, and (hopefully) he has enjoyed working with us.

   This project is a little bit more than just a job for Deo and a lot of the villagers we work with on site. This is something they do for there families (both by blood and community). He actually attended school at the Kingigoro Primary School, and two of his three children do as well. Maurice is twelve years old, Anna is eight, and Sofia is four. This is something that is very humbling and exciting, knowing that some of the crew themselves went to this school and they are sending there children there as well. It makes the time and effort we put into theses projects so much more enjoyable.